Merck Paid "Nurses" to Comb Medical Records for Potential Vioxx Patients

(MoneyWatch)  Merck paid "nurses" to comb medical records for potential Vioxx patients, an Australian court has heard. The nurses went through patient records with doctors' permission, looking for 100 patients at each doc who weren't on Vioxx but could be, according to The Australian.

The paper reported that Merck sought to persuade pharmacists to recommend Vioxx to patients who were on paracetemol by giving them free copies of the Merck manual.

The trial also revealed an end of year skit put on by Merck drug sales reps who made fun of the Journal of the American Medical Association, which had published an article about cardiovascular concerns with Vioxx. The skit renamed it the "Journal of the American Mullet Association," and featured a picture of a man with the business-in-front, party-in-back do.

News of the skit is deliciously ironic because of previous revelations in the trial that Merck created a fake medical journal, the "Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine" (click here for a copy), in which to promote its products.

Separately and not entirely seriously, Merck is not the only drug company that created a fake medical journal to promote its products. Phoni Pharmaceuticals paid medical publisher Elsleazier to print the "Australian Journal of Boneheads and Joints Medicine," Pharma Giles writes:

The spokesperson added that Elsleazier had no plans to look further into the matter. "The high prices of subscriptions to our journals are a guarantee of their quality," he said. "After all, everyone recognises the quality of Australian scientific publications, in the same way that American diplomacy journals or Nigerian accountancy and banking magazines are regarded ... "

• Previously:
• Docs Say Merck Placed Their Names on Ghostwritten Vioxx Articles
• Merck Created Hit List to "Destroy," "Neutralize" or "Discredit" Dissenting Doctors
• New Merck Allegations: A Fake Journal; Ghostwritten Studies; Vioxx Pop Songs; PR Execs Harass Reporters